You heard it, Orange County, California, considered one of the most conservative Counties in the Country and the Occupy Movement has been given the green light to Occupy over night by the Irvine City Council, unanimously.
Felicity Figueroa spoke on behalf of Irvine Residents to the City Council and they prevailed. This is the message that was sent by her last night.
After more than 70 residents - young and old; student and professional; working, retired, and unemployed - spoke during the Public Comment section of tonight's City Council meeting in Irvine, the five councilmembers voted UNANIMOUSLY to grant the Occupy OC Village the right to camp on the grass outside City Hall throughout the night!
The entire experience was an incredibly uplifting exercise in mutual respect and appreciation; and truly, everyone came out a winner. (If you have the opportunity to view one of the many reruns of the meeting on television, I highly recommend it.)
Thanks to our wonderful City Council; to all the speakers; and to everyone who came out and sat through the five-hour meeting in support of the free speech rights of the Occupiers. It was a great night.
And this is not an all Democratic Council, it is one of the most progressive in Orange County, but two of the Council members is very much Republican but they too saw the importance of protecting free speech and should be commended for supporting that right in their City.
Thank you to Beth Krom, Larry Agran, Sukhee Kang, Steve Choi and Jeffery Lalloway. The city had come under fire because there had been some questionable treatment by the Irvine police prior to this but nothing like what other occupations have faced.
Referencing the police's approach to protesters, which has witnessed officers corralling people to the sidewalks every night after 10 p.m. and asking them to keep moving until 6a.m., Councilman Larry Argran, explained, "They don't always get it 100 percent right. And we don't always get it 100 percent right. This is a new kind of demonstration."
Mayor Sukhee Kang added, "We want to put all of that behind us."
Agran, who is also a lawyer, then read a series of passages from the city code that he said will allow a prolonged assembly with city approval. He added the council had ample room legally to facilitate protesters wishes.
The governing body also apologized for the recent dousing of protesters early Saturday morning, which they attributed to an independent contractor who accidentally activated the system.
Source
I think it is important that we keep a watchful eye on cities that step over the line it is important to also recognize when Cities do the right thing. Irvine has done that.
Occupy Oakland was dismantled and police force was used in doing so, it was brutal and we need to support them through this.
For the latest, please check out Oakland Living Occupy Oakland raided & dismantled by police this morning, where Rebecca Saltzman is keeping up to date on all the news on her blog.